Category Archives: gluten free

No-knead Mesquite Bread

by Mirabaking, bread, gluten free, legumes, recipes

Those inventive folks over at Craftzine.com have come up with a new twist on the, by now, ubiquitous no-knead bread. Laura, one of the Editorial Assistants, found my post about mesquite flour and emailed me to let me know about this really fun article on how to harvest and process mesquite to make the flour. It includes a recipe for No-Knead Mesquite Bread which they said I could share with all of you. Living here in Texas I know we have mesquite, but there isn't any in my area. I'm going to have to learn to identify it though so that if I find any in my travels I can harvest the pods.

No Knead Mesquite Bread Recipe

3 cups white flour
3 tbls mesquite flour
½ tsp yeast
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups of water

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl
Add water and mix
Stir with fork (mix will be sticky)
Cover in a bowl, let sit overnight
Place bread dough on cutting board covered with towel for 2 hours
In metal bowl bake in sun oven @ 350 for 1 hour

photo courtesy of: Wendy Tremayne

Strawberry-Colada Scones

by Mirabaking, gluten free, grains, oats, recipes

Having leftover fresh ground flour from the ricotta pancakes, I decided to make some scones.

Scones are great! Not as dense as muffins, the right size for a snack and, like muffins, very pliable to modification.

Rummaging around the pantry and fridge revealed some strawberry yogurt and the last little bit of shredded coconut so strawberry-colada became the flavor of the day.

Unfortunately, I did not have any fresh or dried strawberries which I think would have made these scones even better; the currants worked well but the scones were a little light in the strawberry flavor.

In the future, I'll make sure to have strawberries available the next time I want to bake these.

In the past when I have made scone recipes using fresh ground flour I find that sometimes they are more dense than I'd like. Wanting to make sure these were light more fluffy I separated the egg. If you are using whole grain flour you may want to do the same.

Strawberry-Colada Scones

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Ingredients

1 C. oat flour
1 C. brown rice flour
1/3 C. evaporated cane juice crystals
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
generous pinch of sea salt
1 C. strawberry yogurt
1 egg separated
1/4 C. coconut oil melted
1/2 C. currants
1/2 C. shredded coconut

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400
Beat egg whites until peak forms, set aside
Mix together egg yolk, coconut oil and yogurt until fully blended
In a separate bowl mix together flour, cane juice crystals, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
Add dry mixture to yogurt mixture until just moistened
Gently fold in currants and shredded coconut
Gently fold in egg whites
Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet
Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown
Let cool 2 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to rack. Enjoy!

Ricotta Pancakes With Honey Glazed Plums

by Mirabreakfast, gluten free, grains, oats, pancake, recipes, vegetarian

Cooking and baking is always an adventure. Inspiration is all around you if you are open to it. There's no real explanation for why or how ideas come together but I can honestly say that frequently it's a matter of "oh gosh there's X in the fridge and I better use it up." Then I make something using that ingredient.

Most of the time I make tried and true recipes, either my own or those from trusted cookbooks. Sometimes the inspiration is something I ate elsewhere that I really liked and have been given the recipe. Other times the recipes find me but I somehow can't help playing with them a little bit.

Recipe inspiration

Such is the case with today's breakfast. The inspiration was a click-through Twitter post that brought me to Almost Bourdain's (AB's) blog, which I just discovered and like a lot. He credits his inspiration for this recipe to Bill Granger, I credit my inspiration to him. It's kind of neat how that works, we're all connected by this idea of ricotta in pancakes but we each put a slightly different twist to it; all of them, I'm sure, very delicious.

Substitute with what you have

My changes came about because I am trying to work more with gluten-free recipes lately. These are for a few people I know who are faced with gluten sensitivity. It's also, as always, inspired by what I have on hand.

AB's version calls for bananas and honeycomb. I didn't have enough bananas but did have plums. I didn't have any honeycomb either (and I miss my friends from CT who used to supply me with it) but I did have honey. Together with some breakfast sausage this made a great meal and is definitely on the repeat again list. I hope you like it too.

Honestly, these were fabulous. I would even consider serving them as a dessert by making the pancakes smaller and putting a dollop of creme fraiche on top with a dusting of cinnamon. Yum!

Ricotta Pancakes with Honey Glazed Plums

Indulge your taste buds with these luxurious ricotta pancakes topped with honey-glazed plums. The creamy texture of ricotta cheese combined with the sweetness of honey-glazed plums creates a decadent breakfast treat.

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Ingredients

For the pancakes:
1 1/3 C. ricotta cheese
3/4 C. buttermilk (for a little tang to offset the honey glazed plums)
4 eggs separated
1/2 C. fresh ground oat flour
1/2 C. fresh ground brown rice flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla
pinch salt
For honey-glazed plums:
2 plums
2 T. honey
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 t. butter

Instructions

Pancake instructions:
Beat egg whites until peaks form, set aside
Mix ricotta, egg yolks, vanilla, and buttermilk together until well blended
Mix together flours, baking powder and salt
Gently add flours into ricotta mixture
Gently fold egg whites into mixture until just blended
Grop by 1/4 C. measure into medium hot, greased pan
After 2 minutes flip to cook other side
Instructions for plums:
Cut plums into bite sized pieces
Toss with honey and cinnamon
In a medium-hot pan melt butter
Add plum mixture and stir until plums begin to soften just a little (about 7 minutes)
Serve pancakes with plums on top

Banana Bonanza

by Mirabaking, gluten free, recipes

Bananas are a comfort food for almost everyone. Creamy, tasty, and sweet, they are easy to eat. Everyone knows they are good for you (and unlike most other “good for you” foods this does not seem to bother anyone). Everyone also knows that bananas are a very good source of potassium. Most people, however, don't realize that there are a number of other healthy reasons to eat bananas.

Why eat bananas

They are high in fiber, in the form of pectin, which is excellent for helping to ease constipation (because of the high potassium content bananas are also a good choice when it comes to replenishing the electrolytes lost due to diarrhea). Bananas also provide a high percentage of our daily amount of vitamin B6, which, according to Phyllis Balch, author of Prescription for Nutritional Healing, “is involved in more bodily functions than any almost any other single nutrient.” B6 is important for the immune, nervous and cardiac systems and is also important for circulatory health. Another helpful component of bananas is something called protease inhibitors; these can be helpful in stopping the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.

Starch versus antioxidants

Although we are used to seeing only two to three different varieties in the supermarket, there are believed to be around 500 varieties, including plantains. They come in all different colors and sizes. Bananas can be eaten when they are green, providing something called resistant starch which has a fiber-like effect on your system and also helps to promote “good” bacteria. The riper the bananas are when you consume them, the more antioxidants they provide, making them a great all-around fruit.

How to freeze bananas

Most people do not like to eat very ripe bananas. When the fruit starts to get spotted on the outside they are frequently considered to be “over-ripe” although this is usually not the case. But if you won't eat them the issue becomes what to do with them. If they are too ripe for your palate and you are not in the mood to bake you can freeze them.

If you want to use bananas in smoothies you can peel them and then freeze them. Be sure to lay them flat while freezing to make it easier to remove from the container and throw into your blender.

If they are going to be used in baking you can simply freeze them peel and all. I would, however, suggest still bagging them together. Otherwise, you wind up with a rather large collection of frozen bananas in all corners of your freezer (ask me how I know this LOL). Freezing bananas in the peel is fabulous because when you are ready to use them you simply let them thaw on the counter. After they thaw you can snip the end off the banana and let it “goosh” into your mixing bowl where it will incorporate itself very nicely into the batter.

Banana Pecan Chocolate Bundt Bread

Today I happened to have 5 very ripe bananas and decided that it was a good day to bake. The following recipe is modified from one originally given to me by my friend Theresa. She got it from her grandmother, the family name for it was 1940's Banana Bread. The basic recipe is the same, I've merely changed the flour to gluten-free, the sugar to evaporated cane juice, and added pecans, chocolate chips, and a little vanilla to make a wonderfully tasty banana bread. Theresa bakes hers in loaf pans but I love making this in a bundt for that little extra touch.

4-5 ripe bananas

2 eggs

2 C. gluten-free flour (such as Pamela's)

1 C. evaporated cane juice crystals

2 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla

1/2 C. chopped pecans

1/2 C. chocolate chips

preheat oven to 325 degrees F

grease a bundt pan and set aside

in a large mixing bowl mix bananas together

beat in eggs one at a time

add in flour, sugar and baking soda until well incorporated

add in vanilla, pecans and chocolate chips until well incorporated

pour batter into bundt pan

bake 1 hour or until cake pick inserted into batter comes out clean

remove cake from oven and let sit 10 minutes on cake rack

invert to release cake from bundt pan and let cool completely

Mesquite Flour

by Mirabaking, gluten free, legumes, protein, questions, sweetenerscarob

My friend Misty asked me “What do you know about mesquite flour?” Mesquite (genus Prosopis) is a deciduous, leguminous tree that grows quite well in Texas and Mexico and has a range that goes as far north as Kansas and westward to southern California. Most people use the wood to create a flavorful smoke that imparts a fabulous taste to barbequed meats. But mesquite also has another purpose.

I had heard of people using mesquite flour before I moved to Texas, a high protein legume that was high in fiber and originally part of the Native American diet for Southwestern tribes.

Researching it further I have discovered that it apparently also has a good profile for calcium, manganese, iron, zinc, and is high in the amino acid lysine. Because of it's high soluble fiber content and low glycemic index, in spite of a reported sweet flavor, mesquite flour is believed to be a good choice for diabetics.

Mesquite flour was traditionally consumed by Pima Indians. With the advent of a modern diet many of them have developed diabetes; this seems to be attributed to their decline in consumption of mesquite flour. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition “the slow digestion and absorption of starch in traditional foods was a factor that helped protect susceptible populations from developing diabetes.” These traditional foods included corn, lima beans, white and yellow teparies, mesquite, and acorns. Another study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology highlighted an ethnobotanical study in Israel which researched plants used for the treatment of diabetes; one of the plants included was mesquite.

Because mesquite is a legume I am assuming that it has a non-glutinous profile making it best suited for quick breads, cakes, and muffins or cookies rather than for a yeasted bread.

Mesquite also has another use, the flowers are attractive to bees and I have heard that mesquite honey is quite flavorful. You can purchase mesquite honey on the internet as well as mesquite flour. There are also recipes available that call for mesquite flour. All in all it seems like it might be somewhat similar to another legume flour, carob, which I wrote about here and here. Both are sweet, high in fiber and provide a good protein content.

photo courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org

Cookies And A Question

by Mirabaking, gluten free, nuts, questions, recipes

My friend Helene recently shared a wonderful gluten-free cookie recipe with me. She said it was so fabulous that she was going to have to freeze the cookies, otherwise she was afraid she might eat them all. Frozen cookies have never stopped me, sometimes they are even better that way.

Helene's Coconut Almond Cookies:

1 c. coconut Flour
1 1/2 c. Almond Meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. honey
1 Tbsp Almond Extract

Mix the dough together in a cuisinart until a ball forms
Freeze dough for approximately 30 mins
Preheat oven to 350 deg F
Roll dough between two sheets of was paper
Cut cookies using a cookie or biscuit cutter
Bake for 7 mins, remove to wire rack to cool

While we were talking Helene also asked if there were any eggs in shortbread.
The answer is no. Shortbread is a particular type of cookie that has a 1-2-3 recipe. One part sweetener (usually sugar), two parts butter (or other shortening), three parts flour (although old-fashioned shortbread was and is made with oats) and then enhanced with flavorings and or spices. The “short” refers to the crumbly dough. Fat retards gluten so even if you used wheat flour, the high amount of fat would prevent the dough from forming long gluten strands.

Shortbread cookies are typically baked low and slow so they will be very light in color. They can be formed in long rectangles, also called fingers, large circles which are cut into triangles as soon as they are removed from the oven, or small round biscuits. Although most people think of them as Christmas cookies, shortbread can also be made savory (such as this Parmesan Shortbread from Epicurious).

picture courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shortbread_fingers.jpg

Healthy Granola Recipes

by Mirabreakfast, gluten free, nuts, oats, recipes, vegetariangranola, recipe

The kitchen is fragrant with the smells of baking granola right now.

Steve and the kids like to eat it as a bowl of cereal, I prefer it as a garnish on top of a bowl of yogurt and fruit, as an added treat to a bowl of muesli, or as a crumb topping for making muffins.

One of the reasons that I like to make my own granola is because I can control the flavor and the sweetness; I also believe I save money by making my own.

Bear Naked Apple Cinnamon Granola is $4.85 for approximately 3 cups, Kashi Mountain Medley Granola is $4.56 for approximately 3.5 cups and my homemade version comes out at around $3.65 for 6 cups.

Because I want less sugar in my granola it is admittedly less crunchy but we find it to be very flavorful and enjoy it a lot. Taste testings with friends and family shows that they like it too.

The most recent batch is apricot, raisin, walnut, and cinnamon. The kids were very eager to "taste test" it as it came out of the oven, I had to fend them off with my mixing spoon so that it could cool properly.

Great Granola

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Ingredients

3 T. honey
3 T. molasses
1/3 C. oil
4 C. rolled oats
1 C. nuts, chopped
1 C. dried fruit
1/4 C. flax seed, ground
1 t. vanilla
spices, optional (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc)

Instructions

In a small pot on the stove mix honey, molasses and oil
Heat until just starting to bubble, stirring to mix well
Place oats in a large ovenproof dish
Pour liquid mixture over oats and stir well to coat evenly
Bake for 10 minutes
Remove from oven, stir well, add nuts and return to oven
Bake for 10 minutes
Remove from oven, stir well, add dried fruit and return to oven
Bake for 10 minutes
Remove from oven, stir well, add flax seeds, vanilla and any spices if desired
Let cool completely before storing in a container
Enjoy!

My friend Christine also shared her chocolate granola recipe. She said it's a big hit with her family, I'm sure it will be for yours as well.

With the addition of ground flax and coconut oil, this recipe provides some great fatty acids (flax seeds have omega-3 while coconut oil has medium-chain fatty acids). These healthy fats help provide satiety, or fullness, which means it helps fill you up. Dark chocolate and cocoa provide antioxidants, especially epicatechin (found also in green tea), which protect against cardiovascular disease.

Chocolate Granola

My friend Christine's recipe

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Ingredients

Mix in crock pot:
7 C. organic old fashioned oats
1/2 C. ground flax
1/4 C. organic brown sugar
1/2 C. shredded coconut
Pinch of sea salt
½ C. raw honey
2 T. maple syrup
¼ C. coconut oil
2 T. cocoa powder

Instructions

Mix well and heat on low all day, stir once in while.
After slightly browned (4-6 hours on low) stir in:
½ C. 70% chocolate or darker, finely chopped
1 C. chopped almonds & walnuts
Cool completely then store in an airtight container

Next recipe is...I was trying to decide what to call this cereal. It's probably somewhere in between granola and muesli.

It's not really granola because it doesn't have the hard, crunchy bits that so many people like in granola (mine is less crunchy mostly because I use less sweet stuff). However, muesli (pronounced moos-lee), isn't baked at all. Rather it's mixed together - flaked grains, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits.

Anyway, "muesola" sounds silly. On the other hand, "gruesli" sounds completely unappetizing. I think I'll stick with calling it granola and leave well enough alone.

Granola

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Ingredients

4 C. flaked grains - oats, quinoa, your preference
1 C. raw, unsalted nuts, chopped - my favorites are pecans or almonds
1/4 C. flax seed, ground
1/4 C. sesame seeds
1/4 C. raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 C. raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds

Instructions

Mix ingredients together well
Store in an airtight container
If making muesli:
Place 1/3 C. of the mixture into a bowl
Add 2-4 T. of dried fruit
Mix in 2/3 C. milk, yogurt, or apple juice
Cover and place in the fridge overnight
In the morning top with 1/4 apple, grated and spicesYum!
If making granola:
Preheat oven to 350F
Put dry mixture into a large 9 x 13 casserole dish
In a saucepan mix together1/3 C. honey - I prefer raw and local1/3 C. molasses1/3 C. coconut oil
Heat in a small pot until just starting to bubble
Pour mixture over the base recipe, coating evenly
Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to avoid burning
Pull mixture out of the oven and sprinkle with 2 t. vanilla extract, incorporating well
Let mixture cool completely before storing in an airtight container
To serve:
Place 1/3 C. of the mixture into a bowl
Add 2-4 T. dried or fresh fruit
Mix in milk to the desired level
Enjoy!

Eightball

by Miragluten free, grains, recipes, tomatoes, vegetables, vegetarian

Our farm share is including some neat vegetables that I haven't seen before including these cute little eight-ball squash. They are a type of round zucchini.

As I've mentioned in a previous post zucchini are great and have a lot of health benefits. They are also a versatile vegetable and can be served a number of different ways. The eight-balls seem ideal for stuffing because who would want to cut them up and cook them, destroying that cute shape? Having some leftover quinoa from when I last made quinoa taboule (I always double quinoa when I cook it because we eat so much of it) I decided to create a quinoa stuffing to fill these little beauties. This turned out to be so delicious that we can't wait to get more of these squash to make it again.

Quinoa Stuffed Eight-ball Squash

4 eight-ball squash, washed

2 C. cooked quinoa

1/2 C. roasted tomatoes in oil, diced

2 scallions, diced

1 clove garlic diced

2 T. chopped basil

1 t. salt

2 T. olive oil

pre-heat oven to 400 F

cut tops off of squash and set aside

scoop out inside of squash being sure to leave a layer of flesh to maintain the shape

place hollowed out squash into oven proof dish

roughly chop squash

heat olive oil in a large sauce pan

add squash to pan and saute until starting to soften

add tomatoes, scallions, garlic, and basil and saute 2 minutes

add quinoa and toss to mix well

add salt and toss again

turn off heat, fill squash with mixture

place tops back on squash and place in oven

bake 20 minutes

Enjoy!

It’s Not Just Soup

by Mirabaking, crockpot, gluten free, grains, oats, recipes

My recent post about substituting barley for oats has generated a number of inquiries about barley itself so I thought I would address them here.

Barley is a very versatile cereal grain that we get from grass, Hordem vulgare. It is cultivated all around the world and has a wide variety of uses, from animal fodder to cereal to alcohol to malt and more. Barley contains all eight essential amino acids and is a very rich source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. It is also a good source of selenium, a trace mineral that is helpful to the immune system and with helping to regulate the thyroid.

Before I go any further I should also mention that barley is one of “those” grains; it contains gluten. Many more people are being diagnosed with Celiac Disease or are gluten sensitive. If you have gluten issues of any kind it is best to avoid all forms of gluten; I encourage you to speak with a healthcare practitioner to determine if you think you have any gluten issues.

Barley comes in several forms. The most common is pearled which is frequently used for soups or as a substitution for rice in pilafs and stuffings. Pearled barley is not considered a whole grain because all of the bran coating has been polished off. Scotch, or pot, barley is the next step up the ladder with minimal polishing but is also not considered a whole grain because although some of the hull remains too much of it has been removed.

Next is hulled barley, sometimes called barley groats, which is considered a whole grain because of the fiber contained in the hull, left after the outer, inedible layer has been stripped away. Hulled barley requires soaking due to the added fiber, but it gives a lovely texture, or bite, to stews, soups, cereals, puddings, and other dishes. One of my favorite breakfast dishes is a crockpot cereal made with oat groats, hulled barley groats and brown rice.

Dry pearled, scotch, and hulled barley can be ground into flour and used in baking. Barley flour is light and delicate in flavor however you need to be aware that barley is a low gluten grain. Therefore it may need to be combined with other higher gluten grains when using the flour in baking. Used by itself barley flour makes a wonderful, delicate cookie.

Barley can also be flaked, similar to oats, and used as a cereal or added to baked goods for texture and flavor. Due to the flaking process this is not a considered a whole grain so the amount of beneficial fiber is not very high. Flaked barley can also be ground into flour; this is best done in a food processor or blender rather than a grain mill to prevent any clogging. As with corn, barley can be toasted, ground, turned into grits and eaten as a cereal or side dish or, similar to wheat, it can be turned into a bulgur-type texture.

Last, but certainly not least, are the benefits of barley greens. Many people like to juice and drink barley grass, similar to wheatgrass, or to use barley greens powders made from dehydrated barley grass. Because barley grass is made from the leaves, or shoots, of the barley it does not contain gluten however the risk of contamination with the kernel or the risk of not harvesting at the right time is a possibility so barley grass and barley greens should not be consumed by people with gluten issues.

Because of the varieties of textures and it's use in so many dishes I encourage you to try adding barley to your diet, it makes a great change from rice or pasta.

Crockpot Breakfast Cereal

makes 4 servings

place in crockpot:

1/3 C. each oat groats, hulled barley and brown rice
Three cups of water

1/2 C. dried fruit

Set crockpot on low overnight

In the morning add:

2 T. ground flax

1 T. ground cinnamon

the sweetner of choice (we tend to use either honey or maple syrup)

Enjoy!

photo courtesy of de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:MarkusHagenlocher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley,
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/selenium.asp,
http://www.nutritional-supplements-health-guide.com/barley-nutrition.html,
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=127#nutritionalprofile
http://homecooking.about.com/cs/vegetables/a/barley.htm,
http://www.barleyfoods.org/nutrition.html